


her words beating alive in his heart

by mollivanders



Series: things you said prompt series [3]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 09:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: “I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad,” she says, her face lifted up to his and an echo in his brain is trying to make him focus. It’s hard to listen in the light of her joy.“Welcome home,” he answers, leaning closer, and almost almostalmostbut it’s not the time or the place, no matter how easy it would be, because that echo in his brain is always there. Her smile is blinding and he grins, as much as anyone like him can remember how to grin, and for one split second he forgets where he is.(So, it seems, does she.)





	her words beating alive in his heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for jenniferjuni-per as part of the ["things you said" prompt series](http://ladytharen.tumblr.com/post/159087489244/prompts-1-things-you-said-at-1-am-2-things). Prompt was for _things you said that made me feel real_.

_01._

He’s freezing from the rain, drops falling in his face, as she stands to her full height (short height) and proceeds to bite his head off. He argues back, giving as good as he gets – he’s right, he’s right, he’s _right_ – but it’s not until he’s left her that he realizes his heart is pounding with something other than fear or trepidation or dread.

Maybe, he thinks, for the first time in years.

He knows anger, knows the metallic taste of it in his mouth, and that’s there to be sure. Who is she, this girl, this Partisan, to demand her father’s life from him? Her father is an _Imperial scientist_.

(An Imperial scientist, he admits, who may have been working with the Alliance all along.)

But his hands still shake as he pulls his flight gloves on, ignoring Kay’s questions and glaring at the shuttle controls. Bodhi should be doing this but Bodhi is down below, exchanging looks with Jyn and Chirrut about what he had done.

(Three, he thinks, against one.)

Anger bubbles to the surface but there’s something else there, something pounding to life for the first time in nearly twenty years.

He doesn’t even know what it is.

_02._

“I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad,” she says, her face lifted up to his and an echo in his brain is trying to make him focus. It’s hard to listen in the light of her joy.

“Welcome home,” he answers, leaning closer, and almost almost _almost_ but it’s not the time or the place, no matter how easy it would be, because that echo in his brain is always there. Her smile is blinding and he grins, as much as anyone like him can remember how to grin, and for one split second he forgets where he is.

(So, it seems, does she.)

They freeze there, forgetting to move away, until Baze breaks the moment, interrupting the buzz in Cassian’s mind.

“We should get going,” the old soldier says and Cassian jumps, still grinning at Jyn as she walks away, taking a few steps backwards. His words roll over his tongue once more, a whisper of a promise, _welcome home_ , and her words settle deep in his chest.

_I’m not used to people sticking around,_ she had said, and his hands clench into fists, blinking away the moment.

More than anyone else might realize – he understands.

_03._

He doesn’t know how he got here.

(Well, technically he knows. He climbed a data tower and swung his way through a vent and stumbled to the top.)

It doesn’t explain how he moved at all, or how his spine cooperated, or why his lungs haven’t given out when his ribs are definitely broken, or how – 

He blinks in the sun, trying to focus. It’s hard with how much pain he is, but he tries. Jyn limps next to him, every uneven step of hers rattling through his broken body, and he wonders what she’d done to herself while he was gone. He blinks again, trying to think about anything else other than what comes next (he knows what comes next).

“Do you think anyone is listening?” he asks and his lungs protest with the effort. She smiles, as much as anyone like her smiles, and steals a look at him. 

“I do,” she insists, and her voice is pure affirmation. Hope flutters in his chest. “Someone is out there.”

His heart stutters, though from injury or something else he doesn’t know. Her arm is steady around his waist though, and for all that her steps make his body cry out, he smiles.

If this is all there is, he thinks, it will be enough.

_04._

Her hand in his, her voice yelling at him to stay with her, to stay conscious, carries him away from Scarif.

It carries him home.

_05._

Her injuries heal more quickly than Cassian’s, though from experience she knows she’ll always carry a limp. Out of the bacta, she learns that the plans were lost almost as soon as they had been stolen and her heart sinks to a pit in her stomach. Mon Mothma leaves her be, Draven leaves her be, and she weathers the news of Alderaan by staying at Cassian’s side.

(Her home is clinging to life, just barely.)

The day he comes out of the tank is the day that the plans return. When Cassian opens his eyes, still wrapped in layers of warm blankets, she finds herself at a loss for where to start.

_We survived. Bodhi didn’t. They lost the plans. Alderaan is gone. The plans are back. The Death Star is coming._

If she were other than as she is – someone who knew how to do anything besides fight and survive – maybe she could help him now. Instead, she smiles at him, relief at his condition winning out, and settles for simplicity over news.

“We made it,” she says, her voice scratchy from grief and disuse and startles as he finds her hand. Suddenly, everything she can tell him falls away as his eyes blink clear. “You made it.” Her breath falls out in shuddering relief. “You made it.”

His hand tightens in hers and suddenly, everything else falls away, something new coming to life within her. There will be time for sorrows later. Today – 

“I’m glad,” he says and swallows hard, clearing his throat. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m glad _you’re_ here,” she says and Cassian smiles, an echo of one he’d given her once before. Joy, and something more, mingle in her chest.

(Today, they’re both home.)

The rest can wait until tomorrow.

_Finis_

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [ladytharen](ladytharen.tumblr.com) on Tumblr if you want to say hi!


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